In your search on how to find a solution to your nagging low back pain and/or sciatica you have come across this all-important post that can teach you everything you need to know on this topic without having to cobble together a dozen other articles.
Overcoming chronic low back pain is so important to you, your family, work, and your social life because low back pain impacts everything you do.
In this post, we will be covering:
- Understanding Low Back Pain
- Exploring Conservative Treatment
- Comparing Medicine, Physical Therapy, and Chiropractic
- Corrective Chiropractic Care
Oh, and if you want more about what Corrective Chiropractic is upfront, take a look over here:
Introducing the Transformative Power of Corrective Chiropractic
Defining Low Back Pain
Part of achieving correction of chronic low back pain is deepening your understanding of what might be happening.
Medicine doesn’t believe in correcting lower back pain short of medication or invasive surgery. Both of those come with significant limitations. All medication comes with risks ranging from worsening of arthritis to heart and digestion issues.
When we approach low back pain or any other pain for that matter the first objective is to understand what might be causing the pain. Without having a good idea of what might be causing the pain it is futile to try to come up with a plan to correct the problem.
The next step in defining and correcting low back pain involves determining this for yourself.
Ask yourself:
- When did this start? Was there trauma, an accident or a significant life change when this first showed up?
- What would change for you if you were no longer limited by your low back pain?
- Other than just pain relief how else would you know you had been successful?
Low back pain arises from some chronic imbalance or injury to pain sensitive tissues in the lower spine and pelvis. When these tissues continue to experience irritation and inflammation they will result in pain.
The pain can be fairly constant or it can come and go depending on a number of factors.
With Low Back Pain there are a limited number of likely areas that are responsible for the pain:
- Sacroiliac Joints of the Pelvis: when these stop moving properly they can become painful and can put additional stress on the joints above.
- Lumbosacral and Lumbar Joints: these are the joints of the lower back. They are extremely susceptible to the added stress of sitting, bending, lifting.
- Hip Joints: problems with the hips before they develop arthritis can cause changes in how you walk and will cause stress in the pelvis and lumbar spine.
Examples of Low Back Pain Correction By Life Chiropractic of Grass Valley
I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re not the first person to want better mobility without the limitations of chronic low back pain.
At Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley our focus is on correcting imbalances, misalignments, and loss of joint motion in an effort to correct chronic problems. Here are two examples of recent patients in the office that have done well with this approach:
Patient #1: A gentleman in his late 50s came in about 6 months ago with pain radiating down his leg to his foot for the past 11 months. X-rays showed significant disc thinning in the lower lumbar spine with a vertebra slipped backward.
We proceeded to adjust the areas causing the problem and once we achieved some stability we added in very specialized exercises to further stabilize the area. At this point he has experienced a marked reduction in pain with it rarely extending into his thigh where it was constantly down to his foot. He has been able to resume playing golf recently.
Patient #2: A woman in her 50s came in with hip pain that she had been experiencing for a long time. Her primary care doctor diagnosed hip arthritis and referred her to an orthopedist who offered to give her an injection. Nobody bothered to evaluate her pelvis or lumbar spine.
Exam revealed more of a problem in her pelvis and lumbosacral area. We proceeded to adjust the lumbar spine, pelvis, and hip. She has been able to return to running, something she hadn’t been able to do for years.
Both of these are examples of looking for the underlying imbalance or cause of the pain. It was easy to assume the hip was causing the hip pain but the reality is that the pelvis and lumbar spine had more to do with it.
Avoiding Chronic Back Pain and Arthritis
You’ve heard how you can achieve chronic low back pain relief with a couple of success stories.
However, worries about the prospects of chronic long term pain and the development of spinal arthritis should have your attention.
Avoiding degenerative arthritis can be easier than you think. Here are some tips:
- Restore balance to the pelvis and spine. Altered mechanics in this area puts tremendous stress on the joints of the pelvis and lumbar spine.
- Restore motion to the joints of the pelvis and spine. That is the purpose of joints, to provide motion.
- Restore alignment to the spine and pelvis. If a hip is higher than the other it will add stress with every step.
- Activate the muscles that are responsible for stabilizing the spine and maintaining good posture.
Arthritis of the hips, spine and pelvis is almost always ‘wear and tear’ arthritis. It’s a little like seeing the tread on your tires wear out faster because the wheels are imbalanced and the front end is out of alignment. You can replace the tires but your spine is a different story.
Comparing Medicine, Physical Therapy, & Chiropractic
You know you want relief from your pain, but what exactly is the best choice of treatment?
In the US the primary professions you are likely to encounter to treat your chronic low back pain are physical therapy, medical doctors, and chiropractors.
They each approach the challenge of low back pain very differently which makes the choice a little more straightforward.
For example:
Medicine: the medical approach is limited to pain and anti-inflammatory medication, injections for pain management, and surgery.
Medications and injections can only manage the pain. They cannot correct anything. Surgery is sometimes necessary but it comes with its own long term limitations.
Physical Therapy: takes a different approach. Sometimes they use “therapies” like ultrasound and electrical muscle stimulation that have been shown to have no benefit. The rest of their care is typically exercises.
One problem with this approach is that exercises rarely correct the real imbalances and another problem is that they use the same exercises with every person experiencing low back pain.
Corrective Chiropractic: since the vast majority of low back pain is mechanical in nature, the focus of corrective chiropractic is on restoring joint motion and function of the pelvis and lower back.
Since the joints of the pelvis and spine are the most common sources of pain it makes sense to focus primarily on restoring function to these joints.
Related post: Your Pelvis is the Foundation
Step by Step to Freedom from Low Back Pain
The biggest focus based on my more than 35 years of clinical experience is to restore balance to the spine and pelvis. This consists of:
- Bringing the pelvis back to level
- Restoring alignment in the pelvis and spine
- Restoring proper mobility to the pelvis and spine
Right, you’ve understood the importance of correcting low back pain, and you have been thoroughly inspired by the incredible success stories above. Now it’s time to dive into the steps so you can relief as well – all without traveling down the path of medications, injections, and surgery.
Step 1. Get a Baseline on Your Imbalances
If you’ve read this far, you already know how important balance is to solving low back pain, which is a great start.
Just remember, 80% of anything you do is predicated on how effective your approach is.
You can get a sense of your imbalances rather easily. It will help to have the assistance of someone else. Here goes:
- Stand in front of a full length or bathroom mirror.
- March in place for 3 or 4 steps
- Have your assistant behind you put their hands on top of the sides of your pelvis (hips) and determine if one side is higher than the other.
- Now march, bringing each knee as high as your hip with your assistant keeping their hands on your pelvis. Does one side hike up much higher than the other side?
- Look at your shoulders. Is one shoulder higher than the other?
- Look at the bottom of your ear lobes. Is one higher than the other?
That’s a good beginning to get a sense of your baseline imbalances.
Now that you’re ready for battle, let’s dig into the next step.
Step 2. Next, Let’s Look at Mobility
It is critical for you to move forward with your low back pain. You’ve heard the saying about the definition of insanity being “doing the same thing and expecting different results”.
If you’ve had low back pain for some time and it’s still here, the reality is it isn’t going away on its own.
Let’s get a sense of the mobility of your pelvis and low back:
- Put your hands on the back of your hips and try to lean backward in your lower back. Does it move? Does it feel stiff? Is it uncomfortable?
- Stand with your back against the wall. Lean to the side as you slide a hand down your thigh towards your knee. Do the same on the other side. Are they equal? Could you reach to or close to the knees?
Step 3. Finding Assistance
Are you out of balance in your hips?
Do you feel restricted in movement in the lower back?
If the answer is yes, that’s a great indication that you will benefit from a professional to help you restore balance and motion to the pelvis and lower lumbar spine.
Now it’s time to find a professional skilled in restoring structural and neurological balance. I am biased and I know of nothing more powerful in accomplishing that than Corrective Chiropractic Care.
That’s why at Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley the focus is on correction with every patient every day.
Before You Go: Tips and Reminders
I know I’ve just given you a lot to process and I know you can be successful if you take what you’ve learned here and find someone to assist you.
Here are some reminders and top tips before you go on your way towards [achieving the significant outcome].
- Always focus on restoring balance
- Never forget that alignment and mobility go hand in hand with balance
- Remember that the longer you wait the longer the process will take
Key Takeaways
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide about how to overcome chronic low back pain today.
I first learned about the power of chiropractic more than 40 years ago and I shudder to think what my life might have been like had I not discovered the power of chiropractic.
For more info on how I can help you overcome your chronic low back pain take a look at this page >> Life Chiropractic Services
To schedule your first appointment at Life Chiropractic go here: Schedule Here